North Carolina Teen Inspires Young Girls to Enjoy Science and Math

The recent high school grad spends her summer teaching younger girls computer programming and web development at STEM camps.

WGHP Fox 8

Not many girls have a passion for physics, but 18-year-old Claire Laffan is working to change that.

“When I'm learning about science and math, I feel like I'm kind of tearing away the wallpaper at how the universe works and you can see how the gears move. It somehow makes me feel part of something like nothing else does,” Laffan recently told WGHP Fox 8.

Laffan, who recently graduated from Northern Guilford High School in Greensboro, North Carolina, has spent the past few summers sharing this love with young girls by teaching computer programming and web development at STEM camps—a labor of love she says are her favorite part of her summer. Laffan was also the president of her school’s FIRST Tech Challenge robotics team for two years. Both endeavors have led her to being recognized by the National Center for Women and Information Technology for three years. Not bad for a teenager!

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Despite receiving the prestigious Morehead-Cain Scholarship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Laffan ultimately made the difficult decision and head north to attend Yale University in the fall, where she plans to major in physics. She told WGHP Fox 8 that her long-term goal is either to become a professor or work at an international laboratory, but in the short term, she’ll be back at summer camp changing lives.